I am having a hard time here. I cannot get a good burger to come off of my grill. I suspect it is the meat I am starting with. I live in the middle of nowhere so I shop on the Air Force base I am stationed at the commissary. The only ground beef they have is packaged in the meat department. I buy the 80/20. The problem is that is looks like mush. It doesn't have the traditional nicely formed small tubes shape. I suspect it has been overworked and is leading to a lack of any juicyness in my burgers. Have anyone else struggled with this?

Where do you guys get your ground beef and what kind to you buy. On a side note, I have a thermapen and use it to make sure I am not over cooking them.

Thanks,
Troy

Try grinding or chopping your own beef. Buy a chuck roast and either pulse chuck cubes in a food processor for 20 seconds, or put the cubes in a meat grinder. Hand-crank grinders can be had for $50 or less - I use my wife's KitchenAid mixer with the meat grinder attachment.

I try to get it cooked as quickly as possible after grinding. I'll often make a patty immediately after it comes out of the grinder and go ahead and slap it on a hot grill. If I'm grilling for more people, I'll just deal with staggered cooking times.

Freshly ground beef has no substitute.

Ft Irwin?

80/20 is good. If you want to go the grind-your-own route (recommended), as Dan suggests, cut the chuck into fairly uniform chunks and partially freeze first. It will make grinding easier. If you don't quite get the texture you want the first go-around when using a processor, remove the meat from the bowl, break up into small clumps, then partially freeze again.

You can make patties with over-ground meat but it is important that you don't overwork it. Using about 6oz of (seasoned) meat, toss the meat back and forth, hand to hand, lightly and gently, to form a ball. Press the ball into a patty, gently, no more than 3/4-inch thick. Then make a depression in the center so that when the burger cooks and swells it wil end up flat, not bulging.
Cook, depression side up, on a well-oiled grill grate, without moving, till the bottom is nicely browned; flip and finish, never (of course) presseing on the patty.

Kevin,

That's an awesome tip, I will try that depression method the next time I do burgers.

Troy, in SoCal your in the heart of burger country...some of the most famous burger joints came out of SoCal...McDonalds (I said famous, not the best ), In-n-Out, Bob's Big Boy (I think from SoCal), and of course my favorite, Hamburger Hamlet (if you can still find one). But nothin' beats a burger off the grill...keep plugin' away, you'll get it before long! Kevin has good advice...

Thanks for the great info. I have a large kitchenaid and will buy the meat grinding attachment.

I probably understated the description of the meat I buy. It has the consistency of a paste. I am guessing they already overwork it for me.

Thanks,
Troy

Try brisket burgers...grind a whole packer...you wont go back

quote:

Originally posted by Gary Michael:
Try brisket burgers...grind a whole packer...you wont go back

That sounds like a really good idea Gary...do you trim the vein of fat seperating the point and flat? Just wondering if that "hard fat" will render in a burger or not. Yet another thing to add to my to-do list.

Brandon

I think the ground beef you buy in the store packaged packs is about the same thing as the product in the 1-2 pound tubes. It just comes in larger tubes that the store actually sends through the grinder again. Ask them if they will grind a chuck roast or any other blend you want. Our stores will.

Gary, I've read a lot about using ground brisket for hamburger and it's something I want to try but I'm thinking a little chuck would give a better final product. Any thought?

quote:

Originally posted by Troy Gamm:
I probably understated the description of the meat I buy. It has the consistency of a paste. I am guessing they already overwork it for me.

Certainly you can get better meat than that in SoCal...I know that I could when I lived there!

I just got turned on to brisket burgers from a friend. Im going to buy a grinder just for this. But yeah, the hard pieces of fat that will not render should be removed. As far as the rest its a judgement call. If the point has a super fat cap, you can trim it up a bit. But the flat is so lean, the fat from the rest balance it out. I think Ground chuck and brisky would be a great balance. Im on a quest to make the "perfect" burger. Just love burgers on the kettle...cant be beat. Im "bored" w/ briskets, ribs and butts. Been messing w/ burgers and seafood.

Man, the great burger is my ultimate quest as well. I have probably grilled up more burgers on the performer than anything I have done yet. At least 3 to 1...

I started with this vid to find my burger because before the performer, I was just frying up greasy burgers (not that there is such a thing as a bad burger!). Honestly, other than adding a bit of worsh sauce, and a dallop of butter in the center of each patty, I haven't deviated one bit from this video and there is no one that has complained one bit!

BBQ web vid...

Troy, here's another burger tip that not many people know about, mix 5 tablespoons of ice water per 2 lbs into your meat. Will produce some of the juiciest burgers you'll ever eat. I use 80/20 ground chuck for my burgers.

Alan, you forgot one of the best, Fatburger! It's my fav. with In-N-Out coming in a close second.

quote:

Originally posted by LarryR:
Alan, you forgot one of the best, Fatburger! It's my fav. with In-N-Out coming in a close second.

Not intentional, there's even a Fat Burger not far from the Baked Potato in Studio City, which I suspect where the Jazz band got their name, they use to play at the Baked Potato often. Fat Burger is one of the recent establishments though.

And how could I forget Tommy's, the original at 3rd/Rampart, or Pop's which is gone now, was at Olympic/LaBrea...that's the one thing I miss about L.A., possibly the only thing...good grub any time of the day/night...NorCal closes down about 9:00pm...

One of the best greasy spoons when I had a vintage guitar store in Hollywood was the Sunset Grill, 'ol Joe used to grill those greasy burgers with velveta cheese on 'em, Don Henley wrote a song about him...

As a kid I used to like Bob's Big Boy, they had the car hop where the gals were on roller skates...those were the days...

Kevin, thanks for that depression trick. I've been experimenting with my own patties (mixing chopped jalapenos, onions, etc) into the patty, making nice big 1/2 pounders, and I've had them bulge up on me and hadn't thought about trying that.
Thanks!
Todd

One more question. Since it is just my wife and I, I have been making up a small batch of burgers and then sealing the ones we don't use with a vacuum sealer. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Troy

Add water.
Dimple in the middle.

I did some lamb burgers that turned out great. I love a good burger with the salad on top toppings are endless.

Gonna have to try the brisket burger.

The biggest problem is there is not enough room to put everything I want on top.

I can't recommend Brisket burgers highly enough. My local butcher grinds them every other week. They freeze well and even if you like them cooked well, come out drip down your arm juicy if you don't press them while grilling. YUM!!!!

I think a mistake a lot of folks make is what Kevin said about overworking the meat.

You lose much of the texture and flavor/juice if the patty is handled or mixed too much.

An overworked patty will further constrict and tighten during cooking, thus forcing out natural fluids.

I have a couple of good places to buy meat nearby. I would not call the flavor really good. Not like what came from the locker from the cow I met.

The best burgers I made over the last year were all fresh ground. Make sure you get enough equally mixed fat into the burger. If you ever want to sneak an upgrade into a normal meal grind up ribeye.